Moments and Everydays
by zalazny
Summary: A series of semi-random moments in the lives of the agents of the NCD and their favourite police rival. Most revolve around Kaji, since he's my favourite  hence it being only 'semi'-random .
1. First Day Blues

Disclaimer: Switch belongs to Naked Ape, not me.

AN: I'm not sure if it ever says whether Mika or Miyoshi were there first, so I didn't mention her in this one, in the assumption that she joined the NCD after him.

Miyoshi Seiji's first day was not going as well as he would've liked. Already he had been terrified by Chief Katsuragi (who, despite having a jovial personality, possessed an amazing capacity for accidental intimidation), told off by Ibu (the self-proclaimed ace of the Intelligence Section) and had spilled his coffee all down his front. And it was only lunchtime. _It's going to be a long day_, he thought glumly, pulling his polo shirt over his head. He supposed it was a good thing he was a fan of layers. That way he could afford to shed the stained shirt without causing even more trouble. He exited the bathroom, heading back to the Intelligence office. As soon as he stuck his head around the door, the chief looked up.

"Ah, coffee issue solved? Excellent. Here, these need to go to the Investigations sections." Katsuragi had picked up several large piles of paperwork. "These, " he said, dropping the first two piles into Miyoshi's arms. "go to the Section One office. The first pile is for Chief Kajiyama. The other needs to go to Director Hiki." Unperturbed by the fact that he had not described these men in any way, the Section Chief shoved another pile onto his load. "This one goes to Chief Shinohara in Section Two. Off you go!"

Miyoshi stumbled out the door. Gathering his courage, he headed off towards the Investigations offices. Since the Section Two papers were on top, he decided to drop them off first. Faced with the closed office door though, he realized he had no free hand to knock. After a moment of thought, he resorted to using his foot to kick the door as politely as possible. After a couple of seconds, it opened. The Intelligence agent stared over his stacks of reports and research at the beautiful woman who had answered his improvised knocking. Her waistlength hair hung in shockingly straight tresses that swayed mesmerizingly as she moved to open the door further. Miyoshi mentally shook himself, trying to remember his task on hand. He bowed quickly and as best as he could burdened with his armload of paper. "Hi!" he started, trying not to stutter or show that he was nervous. "I'm from the Intelligence office. I have some paperwork to drop off?" He hadn't meant to phrase it as a question, and as he was inwardly berating himself at his unsure tone, the woman cut off anything else he might have said.

"Oh! You must be the new guy! You're adorable!" she practically cooed. Miyoshi got the feeling she meant this more in a 'what an adorable puppy!' way than 'take me, I'm yours'. Ah well, one could always dream. Snapping out of his fantasies, he nodded, indicating he was, indeed, the new guy. The woman grinned, beckoning him into the room. He noticed it was decidedly empty, only a few other people around to look up at his entrance. In fact, of the three, only one seemed to notice that they had a newcomer in their midst. The other two appeared to be otherwise engaged. That is, one had the other in a painful-looking arm twist. After a few seconds of blatant staring, he realized that the woman was speaking again. "I'm Kuroda Ayaka. This is Shindo Kensuke," she gestured to the one other attentive person in the office, a cheerful-looking man with wavy blond hair and long, light eyelashes. Shindo waved. "Those two," Kuroda nodded towards the two struggling people. "are Section Two Chief Shinohara and Assistant Chief Asakura." She regarded them fondly, apparently not at all put off by the fact that the chief seemed about to break the arm of her assistant.

Miyoshi cleared his throat. "Um, are they...usually like this?"

Kuroda laughed. "Oh no, not too often. The Chief just gets annoyed at Asakura when he gets to reckless. The rest of the section is either out on investigations or undercover overseas." Miyoshi nodded weakly, feigning understanding. Possibly the beautiful agent sensed his bewilderment, because she pointed towards a desk at the front of the room without further ado. "The paperwork can just go there. We'll sort through it in a bit."

Miyoshi placed the top pile of files on the indicated surface, said his goodbyes to Kuroda and Shindo, glanced nervously at the tussling superior agents (Chief Shinohara, a pretty woman with a pixie cut, caught his eye long enough to offer a small smile, without missing a beat in her telling off of her long-haired lieutenant) and escaped out the door.

Back in the hallway, he let out a long breath._ I hope Section One isn't like that..._he thought. He continued down the corridor, finding the office labeled Investigations Section One after a few moments. He was still several feet from the door when those hopes were dashed. Raised voices, their words muffled through the barrier, reached his ears. _Oh dear._

He approached the office cautiously. He knocked, wondering if they'd even be able to here it over the noise of their argument. The angry voices continued without pause. Just as he was preparing to knock again, the door opened. A young agent looked him up and down. "Can I help you?" he asked, as if there weren't a full-scale row going on behind him. _Are all Investigations units crazy?_

"I've...uh...got some paperwork for Director Hiki and Chief Kajiyama?" _Again with the questioning tone, dammit!_ "From Intelligence." The agent nodded and opened the door wider to let Miyoshi in. He indicated with a jerk of his chin the desk at the front of the room.

"There they are," he stated simply. Miyoshi gaped. The two men at the desk were the source of the yelling audible from the hallway. At least, one was. The man, an agent with short black hair, had actually climbed halfway ONTO the desk, apparently to better yell at the man sitting behind it. _Oooooookay...Approach with extreme caution..._

Nearing the two men, Miyoshi cleared his throat. "Er, excuse me? I-I have some paperwork for Chief Kajiyama and Director Hiki..." The yelling ceased immediately, as the dark-haired agent finally noticed him. He looked surprised for a moment before seeming to realize he was currently kneeling on a desk, gripping the lapels of a coworker. He let go of the other's shirt quickly and slid of the desk, reddening slightly. Before he could say anything, the seated man addressed Miyoshi, nonchalantly straightening his clothes.

"Ah, thank you. Just put them on the desk here. Kaji and I will get to them momentarily. You're the new member of Intelligence section! Miyoshi Seiji, right?"

Miyoshi nodded dumbly. He had never met someone so cheerful after being yelled at. So this was the notorious Director Hiki. He had pictured someone, well, older. Hiki couldn't be more than ten years his senior, probably less. And if that was the director, than that meant the other agent was Section Chief Kajiyama. _Is it just me, or do the Investigation section chiefs have slight anger issues?_ He couldn't help but wonder as he watched Kajiyama (_Kaji?_) glare at his superior. _He-he practically attacked the director of the NCD? Is that really okay?_ Apparently it was, as Hiki sent a glimmering smile in the section chief's direction before turning back to Miyoshi. "Thank you for the reports. I hope the rest of your first day goes well!" Miyoshi sensed the hint of dismissal in the man's voice. He bowed quickly and tried not to break into a run as he made his escape.

Heading back to his own office, he couldn't help but shake his head. _Maybe Intelligence section isn't so crazy after all... _


	2. The Taboos of Desk Ownership

Disclaimer: I do not own Switch, it belongs to Naked Ape.

"Why don't you have a desk?"

The question broke the comfortable silence that filled the Section One office of the Greater Kanto Public Welfare Ministry's Narcotics Control Division. Rookie investigator Eto Kai looked flustered in the face of the sudden attention of almost everyone in the room. The only pair of eyes that weren't focused on the young man remained resolutely shut. Kai cleared his throat awkwardly. "Uh, Kaji?"

His clarification was rewarded with an eyebrow twitch and a noncommittal grunt from his direct superior. After a few moments, Section One Chief Kajiyama Keigo opened one eye to glare at the younger agent, whose stare of innocent curiosity had been practically burning a hole in the side of his head. When Kai showed no sign of letting the subject slide, Kaji sighed and sat up from his reclined position on the couch, where he had been napping. He fixed the rookie with a flat stare of his own, both eyes open now. "I do have a desk. Across from yours." He pointed, indicating the workplace opposite Kai's.

Kai nodded slowly, but seemed unconvinced. "But that's just a regular desk!" He suddenly noticed a certain amount of urgent murmuring among the more veteran agents in the room, a clear warning that he was entering dangerous territory. Kaji looked peeved, but said nothing. Always one to take risks and consequences be damned, Kai pressed on. He glanced nervously at his partner, Hal, but the other rookie simply snorted and went on with his paperwork, muttering about morons. Finding no support there, Kai coughed and continued. "I-I mean, in Section Two, Chief Shinohara has a big desk all her own-" He paused, as Kaji twitched angrily at the mention of the other section chief, before starting up again. "It-it's all s-separate from the others, sort of like Chief Hiki's..." His stuttering petered off at the sight of the now red-faced Kaji, in whose forehead a vein was visibly pulsing. But before the older agent could respond verbally, a cheerful voice cut in.

"Ah, I can explain that actually." Chief Hiki, director of the NCD, smiled as everyone's attentions turned to him. He cocked his head to one side, glasses flashing, as he regarded his employees. "You see," he continued in an amiable tone, "my office is over on the other side of the building, past the Analysis lab." He ignored the surprised stares of Kai and Hal, who had never heard of this so-called office before, and had always assumed that Hiki was supposed to be where he was. The chief laughed. "Sitting all by myself all day, I got lonely. Kaji was so kind as to surrender the use of his desk so that I could spend all my time with you wonderful agents!" He grinned, resting his chin on his hands, completely ignoring the furious glare directed at him by his former partner. Hal snorted again.

"So basically, he kicked you out of your own desk?" he asked Kaji.

Hiki, in an unprecedented show of agility and speed, made it over the desk in question and to the Section Chief in time to prevent the ensuing explosion. His usual contradicting self, he chuckled good-naturedly while wrestling Kaji's arms away from Hal's vicinity. After a few seconds, Kaji relented and stopped trying to pull away. Hiki patted him on the shoulder with one hand, the other still loosely gripping his arm. "Kaji, there's some paperwork I need dropped off to Chief Katsuragi in Intelligence. Could you please go do that?" Finally letting the other man go, he turned back to the desk, lifted a large stack of papers and dropped them into Kaji's arms. Kaji looked momentarily bewildered, still flushed with anger, but after a moment's hesitation – and a rather pointed smile from Hiki – he nodded and left the office.

An awkward silence followed the departure of the Section Chief, eons away from the comfortable one that had been interrupted by Kai only moments before. The members of Section One exchanged glances. Then Hiki cleared his throat, making his way back around his – Kaji's? - desk and sitting down.

"Kai, I think that this has answered your question." Kai blushed, sensing the gentle insinuation that he was the instigator of the whole debocle. He sheepishly stared down at his reports as Hiki's gaze shifted to his surly partner. "And Hal, try to show a little more respect. Kaji is your superior."

Hal, unfazed, snorted yet again. Kai wondered if he noticed how often he did that. Hal opened his mouth to respond, but backed down in the face of Hiki's seemingly friendly, yet strangely threatening smile. Instead he just lit another cigarette and, muttering again, returned to his work.

It was five minutes later when Kaji returned. The entire room seemed to hold its breath as he glared around at them before making a beeline for the couch and promptly falling asleep. They all breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was back to normal, though it was agreed upon that, like Valentine's Day, the question of desk ownership was to be a taboo subject in the Section One office.

AN: This is actually the first drabble I wrote for Switch. It always kinda seems to me like Kaji doesn't have the same level of authority as Shinohara, even though they have the same rank. It's almost more like Kaji is Assistant Chief and Hiki is the Section Chief. Which lead me to speculate whether Hiki just came in one day and stole Kaji's desk, along with most of his decision-making power. It seems like something he'd do...


	3. Stakeout

When rookie NCD agent Hiki Masataka returned to the stakeout car, it was to find his partner sound asleep. He felt a pang of guilt about leaving Kajiyama Keigo with no one to switch out with as he went about on his own private investigation, but he quashed those feelings quickly as he rationalized his actions. He knew that the informant was up to something and it was up to him to find out what. Kaji would understand when it was all figured out. Anyways, that wasn't the problem at the moment. The problem was his comatose partner who was currently in the driver's seat. Hiki knew that Kaji thought of himself as a light sleeper, but the young man didn't even stir when Hiki nudged his shoulder. Sighing, the agent slid his arms under the other's sleeping form. Kaji, it turned out, was surprisingly light. He was tall, but slender, and it didn't take too much effort on Hiki's part to move him to the passenger's seat. Taking his place in the driver's position, Hiki regarded the other rookie fondly. Kaji may complain a lot about his tendancy to infuriate the section chief and ignore rules in general, but he always went along with his plans and ideas, and Hiki appreciated that more than the other man knew. It was funny, in retrospect, that between the two of them, he himself was the bigger troublemaker. No one would guess by looking at them, Kaji with his motorbike and his cigarettes and his perpetual frown and Hiki with his glasses and suits and congenial smile. Yet Kaji never ceased to amaze (and sometimes surprise) him with his non-confrontational manner when it came to authority and his disdain for clubs and loud situations in general. Ah well, it made him interesting. Hiki found himself smiling as he watched Kaji sleep, his dark hair falling across his eyes. It was as unruly as ever. _He needs a haircut_, he found himself thinking. He entertained himself while he started up the car by trying to picture a short-haired Kaji. Chuckling, he headed towards the district courthouse. Once his partner woke up, he'd need to get that warrant.


	4. Laughable Excuses

Disclaimer: Switch belongs to Naked Ape

By the end of Kai and Hal's first month in the Narcotics Control Division, Kai's tardiness was already commonplace. Director Hiki never seemed to mind, laughing and greeting the flustered young agent cheerfully whenever he finally arrived. Most of the other agents took it in stride as well, noting that busts seemed to go more smoothly without Kai anyway. It wasn't that the rookie was bad at his job or any sort of nuisance, he just seemed to attract trouble. The only two members of Section One who were concerned with Kai's habitual lateness were his partner Hal, who was annoyed by everything he did, and Kaji, the Section Chief. Kaji, already burdened with a temper the complete opposite of his mild-mannered boss, was constantly being driven into a rage by Kai's excuses. It didn't help that, bizarre as they always seemed to be, they were told to him in the honest tone of the most impossibly innocent-looking person he had ever met. It gave him the haunting suspicion that they were all true. But this latest one...

"I was on the subway, 'cuz I was at a friend's for the weekend. I found a newspaper on an empty seat, and I wanted to try the crossword. They say it's good exercise for the brain. But I didn't have a pencil. And just as I was thinking, 'I wish I had a pencil so I could have a brain workout', a pencil flew out of nowhere and hit me in the head! And it was a big pencil! Huge! So I pick it up, and look around to see where it came from, and I see..." Kai took a deep breath. "A hobo! I mean, I don't wanna be rude, he's probably super nice and everything and I'm calling him mean things like 'hobo', but I don't really know what else to say! And he was looking at me, so I thought the pencil must be his. So I went to ask him if I could borrow it for the crossword. But he just glared and threw his taco at me! It was awful. I was covered in taco stuff and he was yelling at me. 'UNDERPANTS NOT HAMSTERS!' He kept yelling that, over and over. Everyone was staring. I was so embarrassed that I got off at the very next stop and had to walk home and change. Then I came here as quickly as I could! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Finished his tirade, the young agent bent double, leaning against his desk, clearly out of breath.

Hiki was no longer visible, having collapsed behind his desk in peals of uncontrollable laughter. Hal had left on a survaillence mission long before Kai showed up, tired of waiting for his tardy partner. Kaji appeared to be in shock, possibly because he had never encountered so many exclamation points in one story. He blinked several times, looked from Kai's reddened face to the desk, behind which great whoops of laughter could still be heard. Then he sighed.

"I officially give up. Seriously. Get here whenever you want. Just please, please, never tell me your excuses anymore."

As Kai ran out the door to meet up with Hal, Kaji ran a hand over his face. Taco-flinging hobos? Really? A giggle brought him out of his disillusioned thoughts.

"Dammit, Hiki. It really isn't that funny!"


	5. An Unexpected Visiter

Disclaimer: Switch belongs to Naked Ape

"Yo."

Narita Akimune nearly jumped out of his skin when he got in his car, only to be greeted by a surly NCD agent slouched in his passenger seat. As he clutched his chest as surreptitiously as possible, trying to ward off a heart attack, he noted idly that this was the second time in under two months that this had happened. In fact, the grumpy expression of Kajiyama Keigo was becoming a somewhat familiar sight. He grimaced at the younger man.

"You again? How do you keep getting in here?" Though it was meant as a playful jibe more than anything, Aki realized that it was actually a good question. He did lock his car doors after all. He could only assume that, for a law enforcement official, Kajiyama possessed some mad lockpicking skills.

He settled into his seat and slammed the car door, before turning to his uninvited guest. Kajiyama looked slightly uncomfortable, but not upset. The first time he had shown up in the police detective's car he had been a wreck, guilt-ridden over the death of a teenager involved in a case. He had come to ask Aki for his help on his own volition, distraught enough to temporarily forget his pride. This time, however, that didn't seem to be the case. The NCD agent cleared his throat. "I got a favour to ask of you," he stated. Judging by the way his mouth twitched and how he stared pointedly straight ahead, the detective guessed that Kajiyama was less than pleased about this fact.

Aki quirked an eyebrow. "And why should I help out the NCD?"

Kajiyama promptly bent forwards, reaching into a bag at his feet. When he straightened up he was holding two cans. He turned to Aki with a straight face and said, "'Cuz the drinks are on me?" Despite the flippant response, Kajiyama still looked displeased. It suddenly dawned on Aki that the agent must have been sent to see him, rather than coming by his own choice. It was a smart move on the part of the young and infamously clever Director of the Narcotics Control Division, sending the Section Chief to see him. They had, after all, a bit of a working relationship, however tense and taunting. But Aki imagined that for Kajiyama it was a little annoying, knowing that his boss was using him because he had reached out to the police detective in a moment of vulnerability. It certainly explained some of his surly behaviour. Feeling a pang of sympathy for the dark-haired narc, Aki reached out and took one of the beers. Not that he'd let the other man see that he understood.

He snorted as he popped the tab. "Makes me sick."

Kajiyama raised his eyebrows. "...The hell?" Eloquent as ever.

"If you're treating me you've obviously got something up your sleeve."


	6. Played a Fool

It was, Aki realized, the first time he had been inside NCD headquarters. On all the cases they competed on it was always the narcs that came to the police, whether it was to pick up investigation information after beating them to a bust or to drop off said information when the cops got there first. Now here he was, seated on a reasonably comfortable couch in the Section One offices of the Narcotics Control Division. Across from him, behind his desk, sat Director Hiki. Aki had to admit, he was still a little in shock over the NCD chief's appearance. He had, like everyone else, heard the rumours about the man. Everyone knew he was young and clever and frighteningly proficient at his job, but it was hard to believe that the bookish man currently smiling benignly in his direction was a veteran narcotics agent, let alone the chief of the whole division. Nevertheless he couldn't quite shake the feeling that he wasn't going to like this conversation, no matter how congenial the other man seemed. He glanced at Kajiyama, standing next to his boss' desk. The section chief was uncharacteristically quiet. Huh. Well, the rumours about Hiki must be at least somewhat true, Aki figured, if he could keep Kajiyama that subdued. The detective tried to think of any time he had seen the dark-haired narc in any way submissive. Of course, he had only ever been around Kajiyama outside of the NCD offices and so away from the man's boss. And he had to admit that Hiki seemed to exude an aura of good-natured superiority, so much so that Aki found himself reliving memories of visits to the principal's office as a child. Kajiyama met his eyes for a second, then sighed and looked away. The feeling of impending bad news intensified. Aki had to restrain himself from gulping.

"Feel free to attend to the weapons and homicide aspects, since those are out of our jurisdiction." The dismissal was clear in Hiki's tone, but Aki was still so stunned by the turn of events that he was unable to register it at first. Hiki's smile never faltered, but he had already turned his attention away from the detective and onto his paperwork as he casually waved a hand at Kajiyama. "Kaji will show you out." Aki blinked out of his stupor and rose, following the stoic agent to the door.

Once out in the hallway, he blew out a sigh, trying to relieve the tension that had mounted throughout the meeting with the NCD director. Kajiyama glanced sideways at him and snorted. Aki glared at him, feeling his dignity had suffered enough for the moment. "What?"

The other man shrugged. "You get used to it. To him" he clarified, when Aki stared at him, nonplussed. The police detective managed a chuckle.

"Oh really? You've known him how long? And I see you were able to handle him wonderfully! Yeah, you were certainly your vim-and-vigour self in there!" he joked. Kajiyama rolled his eyes at him, a playful gesture rather than a condescending one for once. It was rather shocking, Aki thought. A not-angry Kajiyama was a rare thing indeed, in his experience.

"Ten years."

"What?"

The narc slewed his gaze back towards the detective as they walked. "I've known Hiki for ten years. And I didn't say I could 'handle' him, I said 'you get used to him'. No one can 'handle' Hiki." He didn't sound resentful. If anything, his voice betrayed fondness. Aki suddenly remembered something else from the rumours.

"You two were partners, right?" They had reached the outer doors. It was raining out and Aki could see his men waiting for him in the car. In a gesture of mock-chivalry, Kajiyama swung the door open for him, a smirk suddenly plastered across his face.

"Does it matter? All you need to remember is how bad you screwed up this case. Remember that, next time you cops wanna look down on us!" Aki barely had time to scowl before the agent shut the door in his face, grinning all the while. It was amazing how much his attitude changed the farther away he got from Director Hiki. It was like he had just imagined the quiet, obediant man that had stood by the desk in the office. Not that he had time to be dwelling on that. Kajiyama, cheeky bastard though he might be, was right. Dammit! He knew that conversation was gonna go badly! Shaking his head, he ran out into the rain towards his car, feeling a sudden need to get as far away from NCD headquarters as possible.


End file.
